England announce 13-man T20I squad for West Indies series, RCB opener Phil Salt withdraws after IPL 2025 triumph

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England announce 13-man T20I squad for West Indies series, RCB opener Phil Salt withdraws after IPL 2025 triumph
Phil Salt and Jos Buttler of England celebrate following the ICC Men's T20 Cricket World Cup West Indies & USA 2024 Super Eight match against USA at Kensington Oval on June 23, 2024 in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Story Highlights:

Phil Salt has been granted permission to withdraw from T20I series.

Jamie Overton was ruled out due to injury.

The T20I series begins on June 6.

England Cricket Board (ECB) on June 5 announced a 13-man squad for the three-T20I series against West Indies. Star opener Phil Salt has withdrawn for the T20I series due to paternity leave. He has been replaced by Jamie Smith in the squad. 

Smith made his T20I debut in India earlier this year and scored 28 runs from two innings. He recently scored a half-century against West Indies in a rain-curtailed ODI while opening.

Salt left the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) camp for the birth of his child before the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 final. Salt arrived in Ahmedabad on the morning of the final. He contributed with a cameo and took a spectacular catch on the boundary in the final clash as RCB beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) to claim their maiden title, ending the 18-year wait. 

Left-arm pacer Luke Wood who last played a T20I in 2023 has been included. Gus Atkinson is already unavailable due to a hamstring injury which ruled him out of the first Test against India starting July 20. 

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This will be Harry Brook's first T20I series as permanent white-ball captain. His ODI captaincy career got off to a brilliant start as England completed a 3-0 cleansweep in the recently-concluded series. 

The T20I series will begin on June 6 at Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street. The second game will be played at County Ground, Bristol. The T20I series will conclude on June 10 at The Rose Bowl, Southampton.

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England's T20I squad for West Indies series -

Harry Brook (c), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Jamie Smith, Luke Wood

West Indies' T20I squad for England tour -

Shai Hope (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Roston Chase, Jason holder, Gudakesh Motie, Andre Russell, Romario Shepherd, Johnson Charles, Matthew Forde, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph

How Salt fared in IPL 2025 

Salt finished the season as RCB's second highest-run scorer. Only his opening partner Kohli scored more runs. From 13 innings, he scored 403 runs at an average of 33.58, including four half-centuries. His strike rate is 175.98.